ATI have today announced the release of their new high-end workstation accelerator dubbed the FireGL X2-256t, it apparently boasts 25% more processing power than it's predecessor and also rivals competitive products costing twice as much, go ATI.

MARKHAM, ON - ATI Technologies Inc. (TSX: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT) is extending its line of workstation graphics accelerators today with the introduction of the high-end FireGL X2-256t. Based on ATI's award-winning scalable workstation graphics architecture, this turbo-charged graphics board delivers the industry's fastest 3D performance for products under $1000 (1).

The FireGL X2-256t is capable of handling users' most demanding projects when running high-end 3D applications based on OpenGL and DirectX 9. Featuring increased engine and memory speeds, plus a redesigned board with a performance-enhancing copper fan, the FireGL X2-256t delivers up to 25% more processing power than its predecessor. Four geometry engines and eight parallel rendering pipelines power the board which comes with 256MB of graphics memory and dual DVI-I connectors. The FireGL X2-256t delivers fast 3D performance, superior quality imaging and ISV certification for professional applications such as 3dsmax, SolidWorks, MicroStation, Maya, and Softimage XSI.

- Windows 98/SE Support Extended

Many of you would have heard recently that Microsoft were intending to stop support of their older (and much outdated) Win98 family of OS's this coming friday, it turns out they've now decided to extend support into 2006, June 30th to be exact, evidently due to the thousands of companies out there still reliant on these operating systems... (sigh) get with the times perhaps?.

The software giant has extended support for the operating systems until 30 June, 2006. During that time paid over-the-phone support will be available, and "critical" security issues will be reviewed and "appropriate steps" taken. Support for the Windows 98 family of operating systems was scheduled to end on Friday, with support for Windows ME due to expire in December this year.